


The Sound of Color

by Loneanimewolf



Category: Original Work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-01
Updated: 2020-08-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:14:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25656484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loneanimewolf/pseuds/Loneanimewolf
Summary: This is a little something that I wrote for a final in one of my classes.





	The Sound of Color

Rust. Warmth pooling on the back of my tongue. Copper. Burning wetness down my throat, dripping down my fingertips. A sharp caress against my ankle. Eyes damp with cold.   
A figure lay motionless on the border of an endless obsidian body of black, half obscured by its sheer darkness. Its long, golden hair was spread out across the water’s surface, gleaming in the light of the scorching sun. As moments passed, the shining gold seemed to struggle against the black, before it became submerged, unseen in its embrace. As the last strand sank, the sun flinched, the sky held its breath, and the earth trembled. Black crept ever closer. The figure was being swallowed up, vanishing in its insatiable gullet.   
Silence. It was as if sound had been forgotten, as if there had only ever been a world without it. Color dripped from the sun, trailing down from the sky, where even it, followed suit. First the vibrant blue, followed by all the colors of a setting sun, they all fell to the earth like tears in the mournful absence of sound. When the last drop of color crashed into the earth, it seemed to ask the earth to join it, to follow it to a place yet unthought of. Ragged fissures broke across the ground in response, revealing a gaping maw of trembling earth that seemed to release a silent bellow of rage.   
The tears in the ground tore wider, reaching for the black. As they collided, the dark’s surface rippled, pouring into the cracks and filling the earth’s ragged maw. 

* * *

I gasp as my head broke the surface of the frigid water. Struggling to stay afloat with my frozen limbs, I caught sight of the shore and began to make my way towards it. When I reach for a lip of earth to pull myself free, the black water seems to cling to me, before I manage to yank myself up and out of its grasp. Collapsing on my back against the hard ground, my whole body jerks and heaves with the desperate need for air. Raw, croaking coughs echo in the eerie silence as I clutch at my throat, struggling to breathe. The seconds crawl by as my breathing gradually evens out, each breath exiting with a squeaky wheeze as my lungs sate themselves.   
Still clutching my throat, my fingers twitching in an erratic massage of the tender flesh, my eyes flutter open. A pure, indescribable lack of color greeted me. Its aching lack of any shade or substance clashing painfully with the dark, infinite spread that lines the shore. Scalding tears track down my cheeks, obscuring my vision enough for me to rip my eyes away from the sight that threatens to render them useless. As I flinch away, they rest on a forest of trees that mirror the black sea in its darkness, stretching up into the colorless sky with branches like needles and leaves reminiscent of a spider's web.  
Wiping at my eyes with wet, trembling hands, a flash of color out of the corner of my clearing vision in the depths of the drooping, silken leaves causes me to snap to attention. A shrill call bleeding into a raspy, high-pitched shriek echos out into the endless expanse of silence, followed by a barely discernible sound of quickening wing beats. After that, silence. Drawn to the painful, yet beautiful cries, I stumble my way toward where the sound still echoes within the dark trees. As I cross the threshold, passing between two thick tree trunks, the world dims and darkens. Further in shown only an indiscernible darkness that threatens to completely swallow my vision as I push past errant branches and silken leaves, following the quickly fading echo. A cacophony of angry shrieking calls, wing beats, and snapping branches erupt from the direction of the quickly dying sound. One long, drawn-out cry rang out as a flash of color darted overhead, dripping drops of a bone-chillingly cold liquid onto my cheeks and into my gaping mouth. I wipe at the unknown wetness, fingers coming away with a familiar blackness that clings to my skin stubbornly. As I watch, the black seems to burrow, staining whatever bare flesh had come into contact with the foreign substance. A soft trill accompanied by the startlingly close groan of a branch interrupts my study of the strange liquid, my eyes darting up to finally rest upon the mysterious source of color and sound.   
Perching on a thin branch that saggs heavily under its weight, a large bird meets my gaze, holding me captive with its unblinking intelligent eyes that glint with an inner light that is utterly foreign in this world. Plumage a vibrant, bright blue that almost seemed to glow and pulse in time with the rise and fall of its chest, the bird continues to hold my eyes hostage as drops of darkness dribbles down from its beak onto and through its colorful feathers, dimming the beautiful blue. Two breaths later and it takes flight once more, its razor-like wings unfolding and propelling it deeper into the dark forest  
Sprinting after the fast disappearing bird, feeling as though I was being pulled along by the soft flapping of its magnificent wingspan, I was hungry for the sight of the bright blue that shone brightly in this drab world. Countless gasping breaths later I still reach out toward where the color had vanished, completely overwhelmed with the desperate desire to behold its brilliance once more. Every moment the creature was out of sight felt as if my skull would burst, my eyes straining to catch sight of the magnificence of its color again. Foot catching on a fallen tangle of colorless leaves, I tumble forward, crashing to my hands and knees in a sudden open expanse of land.   
Midst the clearing was a snarling, lithe feline with thick canines that protrude well past its jawline and a pelt that shone with a gleaming, brilliant golden light. Letting loose a rumbling roar, the golden beast pounces on the back of a previously unseen creature, burying its fangs deep into its neck and latching on with its massive paws. Made of what seems like liquid shadow and possessing an almost canine form, the creature opened its maw in an answering snarl, revealing jagged teeth that drip gold. As the feline’s body constricts around the shadow’s, its paws flex as it burrows its claws deeper into the creature’s wispy form. Black liquid pours from where the beast’s fangs and claws tear into its flickering form, dispersing into a cloud of smoke before hitting the ground. Bucking wildly, the shadow throws back its head in a yowling cry, snapping its jaws at the feline on its back. Their frantic, grappling struggle filled with spurting darkness and thrashing forms spans torturously long breaths before coming to its abrupt, grizzly conclusion.   
The snarling shadow’s frantically snapping maw caught glimmering light as it wraps its jagged fangs around the feline’s throat. Yanking the feline off its back, it thrashes its head violently, crunching down brutally as it tore deep into the quickly limpening form within its jaws. A sickening crack later, and the shining light flickering once, twice, before succumbing to the dark. A familiar angry shriek rang out, followed by a fluttering of wings as a blue form dove down at the creature, large razor-like talons aiming for what looks like its eye. Leaping up to meet the diving bird, the wispy shadow opens its jaws wide. Moments before reaching the waiting fangs that glint with fading gold, the bird snaps its razor-like wings open wide and drags its talons down the exposed belly of its leaping form. Twisting to the side, its powerful wings beating rhythmically as it watches its enemy slam into the ground before writhing on its back, yelping pitifully.  
Thunderous, rhythmic booms rose loudly over the sound of the downed creature’s yelps and the soft beating of wings. Fast approaching, I could hear trees crack and fall, the earth shaking with every clap of sound. Emerging from the depths of the forest amidst collapsing trees was a galloping equine figure that shone brightly with all the possible shades of brown and rippling with pure muscular power. Head bowed low to the ground with its teeth bared, the enraged beast charges toward the fallen figure of darkness, the pounding of its hooves sending shards of earth flying in every direction. Pulling to an abrupt halt before the prone figure, it rears back and slams its front hooves into its skull, sending liquid smoke flying. An almost confused whimpering whine comes from the creature as it pulls itself to its feet, its form flickering and trembling so aggressively that it threatens to send it tumbling back to the ground. Blackness was pouring from it, oozing from wounds into a lightless pool around its unsteady form, spread quickly across the ground. A streak of blue dove once more at the weakened creature, talons spread, eager to rip and tear into shadowy flesh again. As the bird tore more splattering darkness from the trembling creature, quicker than my eyes could fathom, one of its large wings was caught in a suddenly snapping maw. Brilliant blue feathers went flying as the bird is slammed into the ground again and again before the shadow places one massive paw on its quivering chest and with a crunching snap, tears the beautiful wing from the bird's shoulder. A rasping, high-pitched gurgle was the vibrant creature’s final cry as its color vanishes along with the light in its eyes.  
Screaming in rage, the equine beast rears back to crush the creature’s skull underneath its powerful hooves, but it was too close. The newly rejuvenated shadow latches its deadly maw onto the exposed belly of the glowing beast, tearing and ripping it open, sending glittering brown light splattering wildly. Rage-filled scream turning to one of filled with a primal pain, the beast releases a long, ragged scream as it tumbles backward, slamming to the ground. Invigorated and incensed, the dark figure rips and tears into flesh, feasting ravenously on the dimming, earthen brown light. Each wet, gulping swallow seems to only arouse the beast further, inciting more uncontrollable, gluttonous bites. Only when the last spark of light vanish does the beast cease its assault, licking its jaws with a mixture of pure bliss and contentment.   
Raising my hands to my mouth in horror, I could not help but fear that I would be next. I too, would fall victim to those terrible, wretched teeth and be gobbled up with a perverse relish. A small whimper escapes my lips as I began to tremble with a growing, all-consuming fear. Immediately, one shadowy eye snaps up and met my gaze, and I prepare to feel the pain of the shadow’s insatiable maw on my flesh. My hands clutch at my throat while I gasp and wheeze with terror, eyes never leaving the creature’s. Countless wheezing gasps later, something indiscernible seems to flash in the creature’s eye before it turns sharply away from me, heading into the trees, trailing pools of blackness in its wake.   
Stumbling after where it had disappeared, I felt overwhelmed with a sudden, soul-wrenching sadness that called out for the shadowy beast. Unguided by the bird’s light, I could only rely on the icy black trail the creature had left to make my way through the forest. Blind, I slowly made my way deeper, still aching with a foreign melancholy. My foot catches on something and losing my balance on the slippery trail, I fall to the ground with a loud thump. Groaning, I claw at my eyes, overcome with desperate desire to see again. My face ends up smeared with the cold liquid that burns me with its frigidness, and I use the sleeve of my robe to wipe my eyes frantically. Suddenly, a painfully bright light shone from the trees, making my eyes blur with tears.   
As I blink away the tears, I gasp at the sight before me. A figure was hanging, strung up by one of its ankles, with its free leg splayed awkwardly, dangling at a painful, unnatural angle. Robes a beautiful array of golds, blues, and browns hung around the figure’s limp arms, trailing down to the ground and swaying slightly from a breeze that I could not feel. As I drew closer, I see that a familiar black liquid trails down from where the figure was strung up by its ankle, trailing down its bare leg and disappearing in the folds of its robe. Following the trail downward, I lurch backward as I see the ragged, torn meat that is the throat of the hanging figure. Blackness is pouring from the gaping wound, down into its golden hair, dying it with its darkness and dribbling down to the earth from its fingertips.   
The figure’s eyes snap open and as soon as our gazes connect, it is no longer hanging by its ankle. It is standing on the sky with its trembling hands clasped together and horror distorting its face, black smears dripping down its cheeks like tears.


End file.
